Why have the US politicians been able to spread irrational fear of used nuclear fuel? At worst, it should be left to experts to handle the stuff.
The doe gets funds to handle upkeep of nuclear weapons but funds for licensing the used fuel repository are feeling the crunch?

House and Senate appropriators have no plans to fund development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada this year, according to the chairman of the House subcommittee charged with writing the Energy Department’s spending plan. Lawmakers have agreed, however, to continue a separate Obama-era loan program the Trump administration has sought to kill, the chairman, Representative Mike Simpson, said in an interview Tuesday after his appropriations subcommittee finished work on the bill. The spending measures, to be included in a broad government funding bill, are still subject to change, added Simpson, an Idaho Republican. President Donald Trump has vowed to revive long-stalled efforts to construct the underground repository for spent nuclear fuel from power plants and requested $120 million to pay for initial work needed for those efforts. But a disagreement between the two chambers over whether additional nuclear waste sites should be constructed before Yucca is built tanked those efforts, Simpson said. "We’re at an impasse," Simpson added. "I think everybody is kinda stuck this year."